Women’s March was Just the Start
I’ve always been interested in politics. My dad was always interested in the topic, paid attention to the news, and was the favorite topic around the house growing up. I never did anything more than pay attention, sometimes more than others (college was distracting for some weird reason), and vote as soon as I turned 18. Then the 2016 elections came up and turned out the way they did. Everything changed. Now I needed to do more. But what? Like so many of my friends, I wondered what I could really do, how you really get involved to do anything that really makes any difference (afterall, sometimes the system does feel a bit rigged… which is very disheartening).
Immediately following the 2016 election results I started Googling local women’s rights groups and social activism options. Soon also learned about the plan for the first Women’s March, which I followed the developments religiously. This also led me to find my local chapter of the National Organization for Women who I immediately contacted. While I was super excited I was also extremely nervous to go meet the people actually doing real work, trying to make real change in my community. Took me until January to muster up the courage to attend a social event NOW was hosting at a bar and only cause I drug a friend with me before we had another event to attend (yay, buddy system!). Here I connected with with a NOW leader who talked to me about their plan to attend the Women’s March and how I could volunteer.
The big day came! The Women’s March was finally upon us! I had my sign ready. I had friends planning to join me. I had volunteered to help table for NOW (not knowing anything about literally anything about activism) and march with them proudly. It was only my second time spending any time with NOW and the first time meeting all but one of the leadership.
I was filled with so much pride participating in the Women’s March. Pride for my community having such an amazing turnout. Pride for all the tables of the organizations supporting my community. Pride for the NOW chapter I was learning about on the spot that I was convinced my energy needed to be devoted to. Pride for my friends who marched with me. Pride for my friends I didn’t expect to see but bumped into at the march. Pride for all the speakers who came to share their stories and inspirational words. Pride for those marching and following along in spirit and digitally. Pride for everyone across the nation and around the globe who marched in solidarity to support women’s rights, equality, minorities, intersectional feminism, and all the rights we felt were being threatened by the 2016 election results. One of a kind experience. Such an amazing first march experience that I am honored to have.
Here we are one year later. The second Women’s March is now over and was another wonderful success! Great turnouts again. Still showing we have concerns, a voice to be heard, and momentum to make the world listen.
It was different this year though for me. The awe of it was there but different. After the first Women’s March, I followed through and dove into the local NOW chapter. I’ve been learning about community activism, community involvement, other organizations who are here to support the members of this community. Learning about politics at the different levels. Learning how to lead an organization, now as the local NOW Vice President, so that we can work together to make real, lasting, impactful change.
Like our local NOW President said in her speech yesterday following the Women’s March… we need to do more than march. We need to get involved. We need to get our hands dirty. We need to vote. We need to call our representatives. We need to write postcards and letters. We need to attend council meetings and town halls. We need to join committees and guide policy. We need to volunteer at our local community non-profits and organizations. We need to educate ourselves about the law. We need to raise money to help meet the needs of our community. We need to help elect good candidates. Heck! We should BE those good candidates!
There is so much to do. Feels like never enough time or resources to get it all done. But it’s worth every penny. Every ounce of energy. Every minute of your time! Marches and rallies like the Women’s March are important. That’s what gave me the the path and inspiration to dive into the options I saw from my Google search. But they are just the start. I hope that the Women’s March this year had a similar reaction in at least one attendee this year. If this event can hook in someone to get more involved and make positive change in our world, it was a major success! If it inspires people to have conversations that can be sometimes uncomfortable… talking with friends, family, coworkers, and strangers about sexual harassment, sexual assault, sexism, discrimination, biases, racism, xenophobia, the rights of minorities and immigrants, etc., etc. then it was a success!
We need to have these conversations. We need to take action on these conversations. We need to make the world better. We need to fight for equality for all people. All genders. All races. All religions. All ages. All backgrounds.
